EU extends Libya sanctions

The European Union has imposed an asset freeze on Al Sharara, an oil company, and the Organisation for Development of Administrative Centres (Odac), a company in charge of developing public housing and other facilities.

In a statement, the EU said that the two organisations were “closely linked to the perpetrators of the serious human rights abuses in Libya”.

The two companies have been added to a list of six port authorities, 49 other organisations and 39 persons who are subject to an asset freeze. The decision will take effect after publication in the EU’s Official Journal tomorrow (11 August).

The member states agreed the expansion of sanctions in a written procedure which ended yesterday. French diplomats briefed reporters about the identity of the two companies on the same day.

A NATO air war against Libya has failed, so far, to dislodge the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.